NFL salary cap increase gives Seattle Seahawks wiggle room

Seahawks owner Paul Allen will be paying out a bit more than expected for his defending Super Bowl-champion Seahawks. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

It appears Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider will have a little more of owner Paul Allen’s money at his disposal when making critical roster decisions this offseason, as the NFL is set to raise its salary cap to roughly $130 million, nearly $4 million more than expected, according to NFL.com.

That should be welcome news to Schneider, who will attempt to keep a championship roster together in Seattle after a 13-3 2013 season capped by the first Super Bowl win in franchise history.

It won’t be easy.

Apart from the Dallas Cowboys (a projected $20.9 million over the old cap of $123 million according to figures from OverTheCap.com) and the Pittsburgh Steelers ($8.6 million over), Seattle has the least amount of money to spend against the 2014 cap. However, those numbers don’t take into account the money saved by cutting or restructuring the contracts of veteran players like wide receiver Sidney Rice or defensive end Chris Clemons, whose releases would save the team a combined $23.8 million over the next two seasons.

The extra cap money could potentially go toward locking up the team’s own unrestricted free agents before they hit the open market. The contracts for defensive end Michael Bennett, wide receiver Golden Tate and kicker Steven Hauschka all expired after the season, but it is widely assumed Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll would like to see each back in 2014.